They're Rescuing Me

     Recently I posted a quote and a meme on my Facebook page.  It was very simple, and it said "You think that I'm rescuing these kids.  Truth is, they're rescuing me."  Some people have asked for an explanation.  Well, here is my attempt.

     First, there is a huge caveat.  The caveat is that it is really hard to explain what I mean.  Some things we just know, we just feel, we just understand without really knowing all of the details.  Sometimes truth is just truth.  I'll try to explain, but it might make it even more confusing.

     Second, there is, of course, a very real element of our ministry that is us rescuing the kids.  However, I don't look at it that way.  I think that God is rescuing them and, if He chooses to let us play a little part in that, that's on Him.  Give Him the credit if you need to give it to anybody. 

     With those two things out of the way, I'll try to explain here.  I am not a perfect person (shocking, I know).  I am full of screw ups, misunderstandings, attitudes, tempers...you name it.  I try really hard not to be like that.  Some days are better than others.  I am human, it is what it is; perfection is not a goal to try to obtain.  The day to day of life; work, ministry, family are great; I have no complaints.  However, we all tend to get stuck in our lives.  We are confortable where we are and with what we are doing.  Monotany can be killer...but we all strive for it. 

     The kids we work with in Haiti force me not to be like that.  They force me to live outside of who I am.  They force me to not be me.  They are part of God building a better me.  I can't be comfortable and serve them well.  I can't get stuck in the monotany of everything being okay.  They push me to be better, they push me to care more, they push me to love without condition.  They have taught me more than I think I can ever teach them.  Empathy. Compassion. Grace.

     I don't want to be stuck.  I don't want to just do what everybody else does and be happy.  Life isn't about being happy, life is about bringing little pieces of Heaven to earth for others.  That can make you happy; that can also drive you to insanity.  That's a risk I am willing to take.  I don't want to be stuck in a bubble, I don't want to tread water, I want to move forward.  This is what the kids have done for me.  They have rescued me from me.  They have given me all of the inspiration I need to get off of my knees and do something. 

     That either explained the meme to you, or made you even more confused.  Either way, come to Haiti with me sometime...then you'll get it for yourself.



 

I Speak Ninja! - Austin

Austin, 7 years old, recently spent a week in Haiti, his future home.  Here are some of his thoughts...

What he liked most...

" Playing soccer with the boys." (It was more of a handball/soccer hybrid, with lots of pushing...but they loved it!)

"It's not cold." (Can't argue with that!)

Why are we moving to Haiti...

"It's not cold in the winter." ( I see a theme here...)

"We have to help the kids.  They need help with food and stuff.  The clinic will help the kids when they get sick." (Simple and true!)

What are you most excited about...

"Warm weather!" (Ummm...)

"Playing with the kids everyday.  Like the kids at the school who think I speak Ninja!" (Ok, so we were working in the clinic during school hours and the kids played during recess with the school kids.  One of the boys came up to Austin, with all his little bravery, and asked in English "Do you speak English?", Austin replied "No, I speak Ninja!" with his best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pose.  The boy had no idea what to do, so they just laughed together.)

Who is your best friend in Haiti...

"Nica.  She is funny and my size.  She let us call her Dr. Nicachu." (I think that's a Pokemon reference that Nica surely didn't understand, but Austin found it hilarious!)

Thoughts from mom and dad...

Austin is energy 24/7!  He had a great time in Haiti and always had somebody to play with and expend some of that energy.  He makes friends everywhere and is a comedian, even if speaking a different language than his audience.

He is going to love having boys to run around with, in warm weather, everyday after school.  I am sure the boys are excited for him too.  Somewhere in Haiti today is a little boy asking everybody that he knows if there is a Rosetta Stone to help him learn Ninja.

To help support the Reichard Family as they prepare to move to Haiti this summer, please go to fgo.webconnex.com/contribute and select "Reichard Family Support" from the drop-down menu.

Sharing My Barbies - Madison

Madison, who is 6, recently had her first trip to Haiti in preparation for moving there this summer.  Here are some of her thoughts:

What she liked the most...

"I liked to play with the kids.  We colored with chalk.  They were very nice to me and showed me how to say Haiti words." (We still hear "Bonjou" everyday.  It's the only one she remembers, but at least she's practicing it!)

Why we are moving to Haiti...

"Some of the kids don't have moms and dads, so we can help be their family." (She's slightly obsessed with the idea that their moms and dads aren't there to put them to bed and help with homework.)

"It's a good idea to have a place for them to go when they are sick or hurt." (Pretty sure she thinks that she is the nurse for the clinic.)

What she's most excited about...
"Sharing my Barbies" (We'll believe it when we see it!)  :-)

Her best friend in Haiti...
"Rebecca.  I gave her my shoes that are too small.  We are friends." (She bought her friendship with shoes!)

Mom and Dad's Thoughts:
     Our Haitian kids have been asking to see Madison since before she was born!  We told them they saw her already, sort of, because we were in Haiti when about a month pregnant with her.  That wasn't good enough for them, of course.  It was an exciting day at each of the homes when Madison showed up.  The girls, obviously, became very close to her very quickly.  After the initial obsession with her long, straight hair they began to include her in whatever they were doing.  She jumped rope, colored, played dress-up and played on the swings.  All of the girls, especially the older ones, were in "big-sister-mode" and made sure that she always had her water bottle, was not too-hot and didn't want for anything!
     Madison asks a lot of questions and wants to know about the story behind the story.  She is worried about the kids not having parents around.  She is worried about the school kids having not had a place to go when they are sick until now.  She is most worried, in typical 6-year old fashion, about why they don't all have Barbies.

If you'd like to help support the Reichard Family as they prepare to move to Haiti this summer, please visit fgo.webconnex.com/contribute  and select "Reichard Family Support" from the drop-down menu.

I Work For Them

      One of the things that I struggle with is when people say to me "What you're doing is so amazing" and "I couldn't do that, you guys are awesome".  I know what people mean and I know the intent behind what they're saying; it's just not something I am comfortable with.  I am no hero...but I know some...I work for them.
      I am not a saint.  I am not a hero.  I don't need kudos and pats on the back.  I book flights, make travel arrangements, do budgets, plan ministry, write blogs, give ideas, listen to ideas, make phone calls, send emails, organize stuff, speak to groups...it's not rocket science.  It's not that hard.  Does somebody have to do it?  Sure, somebody does, so I will, but I am not special.  I am not irreplacable.
      The real heroes of what we do at Freedom Global Outreach are the kids.  They do all of the hard work.  They work through life battling histories that would keep most of us awake at night.  They do incredible amounts of school work in hot, stuffy, crowded classrooms.  They live in a full house with almost no privacy or quiet space.  They do the hard work that it takes every single day to change their circumstances.  They face their demons, face their trials and move forward each and every day.
     I am not a hero, but I know some...I work for them.  Now, really we all work for God, the kids and I both, all that we do we do because of Him and the grace that He has given us.  That we know...but beyond that macro-level, in the day-to-day, I work for the kids.  They are my bosses and my supervisors.  What I do, I do for them.
     I am not a hero...but I know some...I work for them.


If you'd like to help support our family as we work towards moving to Haiti this summer to work for the kids full-time, please visit fgo.webconnex.com/contribute and select "Reichard Family Support" from the drop-down menu.



    

We're Giving Them Life

    Sunday evening at Pastor Abraham's house is always, always Haitian hot-chocolate night!  At the end of a weekend it is always nice to sit over a cup of the chocolaty, spicey mixture and a piece of cheese and bread.  It is a time to chat and reflect on what has been going on and where we are as a ministry.  

     This past Sunday while sitting and chatting Abraham was sharing about some of the children's services paperwork he has been doing for the homes and the kids, he began to talk about the way we want the kids treated in the community.  We want them to be treated as kids, just like all other kids, with love.  They don't need the label "orphans" or to be treated differenty, they just need to be loved, just like all other kids.  It is love that will ultimitley give them life.

     We talked together about a girl who recently had to move from our home to another due to a certain behavior that couldn't be handled in a home our size.  It was sad hearing Abraham talk about all of the ways that he tried to love her, the staff tried to show her love and the effort that we all put in to helping her.  In the end, it didn't work out for her.  We can't save everybody...actually, we can't save anybody, that's not our job.  

     Our job is actually really simple.  We are to love kids.  We have kids who were restevek's (child slaves), kids without living parents, kids with a disabled living parent and a few with a living parent who left them.  It doesn't matter how they came to us, it just matters that they came.  They are here now, now we are responsible.

      Abraham reminisced with us about how far some of the kids have come in their time with us.  They were so different from when they first came.  Abraham shared that he is pretty sure some of them wouldn't be anywhere at all, or would be in terrible places, if they weren't with us.  Loving them is our job, the result of that love is giving them life; physical life, spiritual life, emotional life. 

     Sometimes we think that our job has to be complicated and we have to do all sorts of things to help the kids.  No we don't, it is actually really easy.  We have to do our job and love them and let God do His job and save them.  Love looks a lot of different ways, but it is still love.  When we give them love, we give them life. 

     

Reichard Family To Serve in Haiti

          Freedom Global Outreach is thrilled to announce that the Reichard family will be moving to Jacmel, Haiti in the summer of 2015 to work as our first full-time missionaries! The Reichard’s are co-founders of FGO, along with the Lock’s from Canada, and will be great representatives of our values and mission in Haiti. They have been with us from the beginning and have deep connections to Haiti and to the kids and communities that we support.
          Julie is a Registered Nurse and will be overseeing our exciting new project, Heaven’s Angels Pediatric Clinic, which is currently being built in Jacmel. Julie and her staff will oversee the medical care for over 1,300 students of Vie De France Primary School and several hundred other kids in the community. She will also be responsible for overseeing visiting nurses, physicians and lay people who come to assist in the clinic.
          Matt has an extensive ministry background and education and will be the director of all of our on the ground ministry. He will work with Julie on the administrative aspects of the clinic, including connecting children and their families with other community resources when needed. He will oversee all visitors to FGO in Haiti, ministry budgets in Haiti and work hand in hand with our Haitian leaders on the mission of our orphanages, which is to develop individualized goals and plans for the kid’s long-term education and careers.
          Logan, Austin and Madison will also have a role to play in ministry. While they navigate the huge change from living in Pennsylvania to living in Jacmel, and the change to home/cyber school, they will work alongside of their parents in sharing love and life with the children in our ministry and the surrounding communities.
          Please join us in welcoming the Reichard’s into this amazing new journey of their life. Pray for them as they begin the process of closing down their lives at home and preparing for their move to Haiti. Keep an eye out on this space and others for information on how you can help be a part of their journey and our mission.

Freedom Global Outreach

Meet Some of Our New Kids!

We have 19 new kids that joined the Freedom House Grace family in the past several weeks, brining our girl's home up to 37 and our boy's up to 21!.  Many of them came from an area in Haiti that is suffering major food shortages, starvation and the abandonment and orphaning of children.  They are battling some medical issues (worms, distended stomachs, malnutrition), but are on the mend.  It is not always easy work for our amazing staff to walk with these kids through these issues, but they are lovingly caring for their needs.  As with many of our kids in the past, a little bit of medicine and a lot of love can heal many, many things.

Meet some of the new kids...

 

Sometimes Being a Mom Means...

Imagine being 4 years old.  Imagine that you live way up in the mountains of Haiti and your mom is very sick.  Your dad is dead.  Your mom, despite her sickness, works brutal days making charcoal out of trees.  She gets even sicker.  She gets even weaker, and there you are.  You are 4.  You are hungry.  Your mom is hungry.  What do you do?
    If you are Garry, you somehow make your way into town, into the yard of the biggest school in town.  You find the man in charge, in this case Pastor Abraham Comper.  You tell him about your mom and you ask him for help.  Remember, you are 4 years old.
    This is the story of how Garry came to be a part of the family at Freedom House Grace Boys in Jacmel.  Pastor Abraham took him back to his mom, with food and some money for her to see the doctor.  Despite her intense love for her son, she knows that she will never be able to provide for him.  She can’t make enough charcoal to sell and make a living for her and Garry.  She is sick and can barely care for him.  Sometimes being a mom means realizing that your child needs things that you can’t give them.  Sometimes it means saying good-bye.  Sometimes the best gift that you can give as a parent is the gift of a chance, the gift of hope, the gift of a future.
    Garry’s mom was able to go to the doctor.  She got some medicine to help her.  Pastor Abraham has given her some food and some money to help her be on her feet.  He is hoping to find a way to help a small homto be built for her in the mountains. She still makes charcoal. She still battles through each day. e  As hard as it was for her, she rests easier at night now knowing that her little boy is being well taken care of.
    Garry is part of a large family of boys.  The older boys love him and the house parents adore him.  He is happy and healthy.  He will be able to eat everyday.  He will be able to go to school and have a top-notch education.  He will have a shot, a chance in this life that his mom just couldn’t give him.  There will be opportunities for Garry and his mom to see each other, Pastor Abraham will arrange for them to still be a part of each others life.  Once a parent, always a parent…sometimes parenting just looks a little different.

This is a Love Story (Hope for Heaven from Haiti)

“These three remain - faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.”

     This is a love story. It is not one of those love stories where boy meets girl, the whole world seems to stop and life as we know it is never the same. There are no magical moments when the earth ceases to spin on its axis and all becomes right with the world. Nobody is fighting the evil enemy for the hand of their true love, or laughing in the face of tradition and loving despite what others think. This isn’t going to become a best seller or be made into a movie. This is about that hard, grinding, day-to-day, even when things are falling apart type of love. The kind that nobody likes (because its hard) but everybody wishes they had (because it is real).

     Heaven Kelley was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer last year. Her whole world, and that of her family, was thrown upside down. What was up was now down. What used to matter so much now meant nothing at all. Their world stopped spinning, yet was twirling around so fast that they didn’t know what was here and what was there. I know, seems like it doesn’t make sense, but nothing really makes sense when your 12 year old is given a diagnosis that nobody has ever heard of and not many are sure how to treat.

     When Christella was 7 she was sold to another family to be a child slave. Fabiola, she grew up on the streets of one of the world’s worst slums. Shelove lived there too. Rebecca, she was abused as a 2 year old so badly that she had a years worth of surgeries to correct the damage. Their world? It was still, and spinning and just about everything in between at the same time. They had no idea what was going on, they had no idea what was next or if they would ever be anywhere safe again.

     A little girl in Pennsylvania (or Tennessee at St. Jude’s, depending on her schedule). A group of little girls in Haiti. They have never met each other. They can’t speak a single word of the same language. They live in drastically different worlds. One is pale white, the others varying shades of brown. One is a cheerleader, the others have no idea what a cheerleader even is. So different, about as different as can be. Yet there is a tie that binds them together. This tie makes all of the other junk, like skin color and hobbies and geography irrelevant. The tie that binds is love.

     There is something about little girls who have been through a bunch of garbage in their lives that makes their hearts about the size of basketballs. Heaven is extremely interested in the girls at the orphanages, as her grandmother Brenda (a long time sponsor) has been sharing with her about them for some time. She has sent them things and written them letters. Last month, on two separate occasions, we shared Heaven’s story with the girls at both the Bethesda and Grace homes. The outpouring of love that they had for her, the compassion and the empathy were palatable. It was as if they were saying “Yeah, stuff happened to you that you can’t control and it hurts like crazy. I know how that is. You need some love? Some prayer? Some support? Yeah…we got this”

     At Bethesda the girls worked like crazy to make their own “Hope for Heaven” and “For Heaven’s Sake” t-shirts, like the ones hundreds of us in Pennsylvania wear around to support her and her family. They prayed for her, put up her pictures in the home and wrote her individual cards. (Shout out to our friends at AWAKEN Haiti who joined in this). At Grace, the girls each took a picture in a “Hope for Heaven” shirt and made her individual cards.

     Tiny little hands working hard making shirts, making cards and writing notes of encouragement in two orphanages in Haiti. One little girl fighting with chemo side effects and feeding tubes in the U.S. A bunch of big, giant hearts connected in ways that none of us reading this are going to understand. There is something to be said about not having to feel empathy because you do actually know what things feel like first hand. Heaven has an understanding of the Haitian girls that we just don’t get. They have the ability to feel a little bit like Heaven that we will never have. They have all been little girls at a place where yesterday was terrible, today is worse and tomorrow is way too scary to even think about.

     This week I was able to visit with Heaven, along with Brenda and Pam Brown, one of the leaders of our PA sponsors. We took her all of the things that the orphanage girls had made to her, along with all sorts of pictures. Heaven was humble and loving. It was one of the biggest blessings of my life to share that time with Heaven. I could see the impact of the love and the prayers of the girls in Haiti in Heaven’s eyes. It was just like the look I saw in Linshey’s eyes at Grace a few weeks ago while we wrote her letter to Heaven together. It was that look that showed the tie that binds their hearts together. It’s that “little-girl-in-trouble-who-needs-some-love, I-can-do-that-I-mean-loving-is-what-I-do” kind of look.

     The Ancient Chinese used to say that there is a tiny thread that ties all of us together. When somebody makes a move somewhere there is a reaction somewhere else. They may have been right, they may have been completely out in left field, I am not a really sure, but there is something that I do know. I know that tonight there are over 40 little girls in two orphanages in Haiti who have been through a lot of crap in their lives who are throwing up Creole prayers for a sick girl in the U.S. who they love more than we can even know. I also know there is a sick little girl tonight, either in her bedroom or her hospital room in the U.S., who has been through more than her fair share too and she is looking at pictures of those Haitian girls and praying for them because she gets it. That tiny little thread is so strong that that it will never break, it can’t break, it the kind of thread that we all dream of having in our lives. It is that kind of love that few know. It is the kinds that nobody likes (because it is hard) and everybody wishes they had (because it’s real).

For more on Hope for Heaven, search "Hope for Heaven" on Facebook

For more on the orphanages, search "Freedom Orphanages" on Facebook

Logan in Haiti

This past trip to Haiti was about a lot of things, but those are details that will bore you.  What this trip was mostly about was giving Logan a chance to visit Haiti and see where his parents have been going for more years than he has been alive.  We wanted Logan to see what it was all about, to see where huge pieces of our heart live.
    We set out not knowing how Logan would handle all of it.  He is 8.  What do 8-year-old’s know about poverty and orphans?  What do they know about the socio-economic dynamics of Haiti that land kids in our orphanages?  What would he understand about the poverty all around Haiti?  Would he even get it?
    What we found out was that none of that junk mattered to him.  He saw the poverty, extreme in some spots, and understood it, but didn’t dwell on it.  He looked past it, more concerned about the kids and if they got to school or not, whether or not they had anything to play with and where they took a bath.  He wanted to make sure that somebody was at least trying to help them with all of that.  As long as somebody was doing something, at least there was hope.  To him it was simple, they need some help and somebody should be helping them. 
    When it came to the kids in our orphanages that is where Logan was a star.  I had no idea how he would handle it.  He speaks no Creole; they speak no English.  What would they do all day?  Well, any moment that I spent worrying about that we clearly a waste.  Logan played with the kids, both boys and girls, for hours everyday without needing any translation.  He made up games with the girls; he played soccer with the boys.  He went over to the boy’s home each afternoon and gathered, organized and brought the kids over to the girl’s to spend the afternoon with us.  It was no big deal to him; they were just other kids to play with.
       Beyond the playing, however, were the relationships built while he was playing with them.  He quickly formed bonds with several of the kids in his age range.  He also became very attached to a few of the smaller ones.  They became pretty attached to him too.  It was rough leaving, for all 3 of us and for the kids.  It is clear that God has put all of us on each other’s lives for a very special purpose, a purpose that we are just beginning to realize and develop; a purpose that clearly includes Logan, who is now counting up pennies to figure out how quickly he can get back.  He figure that if somebody has to help, why not him?

Looking After "Neverbugs"

There is a line in one of my favorite movies, Hook, where Peter Pan (Robin Williams) is leaving the “lost boys” and heading back to reality. He is giving them instructions and choosing their new leader. When he gives the chunky kid the leadership sword he tells all of them that they are responsible to take care of anybody who is smaller than they are. The tiniest lost boy? He is responsible for taking care of "neverbugs"…little ones.

That line reminds me of one of the coolest kids that I know, Christela Nelson. Christela is the oldest sister at Freedom House Grace girls home in Jacmel and she takes care of all of the "neverbugs" there. She is the constant mother, for all of her soon-to-be 13 years of life. She looks out for the group, counts heads, dishes out food, and carries smaller kids to bed when they pass out on the floor at night. I have begun to call her Manmi Christela, I am hoping it rubs off on some of the girls because I think she has earned the title.

Christela came to the home in the first group of girls back in 2009. She came from being a child slave, or restevek, as they are called in Haiti. I have not talked at great length with her about that time of her life; it would serve little purpose other than to quench my appetite for knowledge. I am certain it wouldn’t be helpful for her to replay those scenes in her mind just for my sake. What little I do know about her specific case is that it was abusive (as by definition any restevek case would be) and that she worked really, really hard.

As she turns a page in her life and turns into a teenager in the coming weeks, I am struck once again by the change in her situation. She is a giver. She gives. This is what she does. It’s who she is. She used to give out of fear, abuse and because she was mandated to by the adults in her life. She gave, and gave and gave of herself to no end. Today, she still gives, but for a different reason. Christela gives out of love, a love that seems to ooze out of her. If you ever have met her, you know what I mean. She used to give because she had to, now she gives because it is the language of her heart. Once a servant to man; now a servant to God.

As her 13th birthday approaches, I am hoping to be a little more like Christela, a little more able to look out for those smaller than me, a little bit better at giving out of the love that God has put in my heart. I want to be a little bit more like her, taking care of the "neverbugs" that God has put in my life…

Heroes in their Superman Underwear

Superman. Spiderman. Anikan Skywalker (before he became Darth Vader). Tim Tebow. Tom Brady. Michael Jordan. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mother Theresa. These people are all heroes to somebody. They are all heroes to more than somebody, they’re heroes to millions. They have all accomplished great acts of rescue and of getting the bad guy (even if just in a movie or comic book). They have performed a great feat of athletic greatness or changed the lives of millions through their moving service and speech. Legitimately, they are thought of as heroes, and that is ok with me. It is not my place to tell anybody who his or her heroes should or shouldn’t be.


My kids will tell you that I secretly like watching Star Wars with them. It is hard to find a bigger sports fanatic than me, you can verify that with my wife who will regale you with stories of me watching a football game on TV and while tracking two basketball games on my laptop. I am a big fan of Mother Theresa, MLK and plenty of other activist leaders. However, none of these people are heroes to me. To me, the word just takes a different meaning I guess. I find my heroes in people who overcome situations that they didn’t choose to put themselves in. I am not saying that is a universal definition that we all should follow, that is just how I look at it.

So who are heroes to me then? There are plenty I cold choose from, but I keep coming up to these 12 boys. These heroes do not seem to have superpowers or a platform to show their greatness to the world. In fact, nobody really knows them at all. Their names wouldn’t be found with a Google search and they don’t have a Facebook page. They certainly don’t look like Supermen, in fact they wear Superman underwear, secretly hoping, perhaps, to have a little bit of his super powers themselves…if they only knew.

The 12 boys at Freedom House Grace Boys Home in Jacmel, Haiti are, for me, a group of heroes. They do have superpowers; they have changed the world. Maybe they haven’t stopped genocide or saved a sinking ship. Maybe they can’t see through walls or fly above the city fighting crime. Superpowers don’t have to work like that though, do they? Isn’t it a superpower to overcome being a child slave? Is it a superpower to lose your mom and dad at age 5 and still thank God everyday for His faithfulness? The powers to smile and have hope, despite the hopelessness that you have known your whole life is a super power, isn’t it? I think that it is, I think that they are doing something that I am not sure that I would be able to do. That is heroic. Their example has changed my life. Their ability to smile, hope and praise God for what they have, despite all of the garbage that they have been through in their short little lives is something that changes my life every single day. I want to be more like them. I think that they have a lot more in common with the heroes who adorn their underwear than they think, in fact, to me, Superman’s got nothing on them.